Contract job on L permit

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Good day. For context, I moved to Switzerland with my husband on a permanent contract but we were both given an L permit. Several enquiries from the canton and the company have not yielded much result. we would like to move forward and job search, however, not sure if he can work as a contract employee and what the rules generally are. We are both non-EU and reside in Basel stadt

2
A non-EU L permit is always strictly bound to employer. He's not free to do paid work in Switzerland for anyone else as a contractor, too.

Any company that wants to hire him will have to go through all the hoops of proving there was no suitable Swiss/EU candidate for the position. It's going to be as hard as getting hired from outside Switzerland.

3
The only people who have a right to establish themselves as self-employed and consequently work as contractors are Swiss citizens, C permit holders and citizens of the EU/EEA and that is it.

As a citizen of a third country you are here because your employer was able to demonstrate that they were unable to find someone in the labor market to do the job and for no other reason, if you are not meeting that role then there is no reason for you to be here and your employer will want to look for someone to replace you.

Now it may well happen after a couple of L permit renewals you are granted a B permit and later a C permit which would enable you to become sel employed, but that is a long way off.

4
I’m not quite sure from your post, who is the main permit holder and who is looking for a job. Are you the permit holder but your husband wants to work as well? Or your husband is the permit holder but wants to change jobs?

5
Who's the main permit holder is indeed an important information.

If he is the main holder, then he definitely can't switch jobs unless they get a completely new approval for him.

If you are here because you got a job and a permit, and he has family reunification, then he's allowed to take up employment (it's subject to approval but as long as he's qualified and the working conditions are appropriate for the position, it's a formality). Because you have L permits, it needs to be as an employee, not as a self-employed contractor. He would however be allowed to start his own GmbH and hire himself as an employee, but that can be an expensive process.

That's not completely correct. Gainful employment of holders of a B permit for family reunification is not limited. So spouses of non-EU B permit holders (or of C permit holders before qualifying for C permit themselves) can register as self employed even though the main permit holder couldn't.

6
Thank you for your response. I am the main permit holder and he is on a family reunification visa dependent on mine. He is trying to find a job and I already have one.